The present invention pertains generally to an apparatus and method for placing a cap on an end of a receptacle or container. More particularly, the invention relates to the apparatus and method for applying a cap member, supporting a bail, to an end of a receptacle of the type widely used in hospitals. The receptacle is particularly suited to contain a pharmaceutical agent, with the receptacle in use being inverted and suspended by the bail during administration of a pharmaceutical product to a patient.
A hospital intravenous (I.V.) bottle is commonly provided with a bail, or hanger, so that the bottle can be suspended upside down during fluid dispensing. The bail must be secured to the base of the bottle. One method previously used for the placement of bail members, commonly made of plastic, on the bottom of I.V. bottles was manual. A person would pick up a bottle individually and force the bottle into a bail supporting cap resting on a table top or other flat surface. This procedure was tedious and time consuming. Consequently, the manual bail placement method was automated using machinery. However, the mechanized method in principle functioned in much the same manner as the manual version, that is, forcing a bottle into a cap supported on a flat surface.
In an effort to overcome the deficiencies of prior bail applying devices and methods, the present apparatus and method was devised. The present inventive device and method is compact and efficient and employs the principle of rotary motion and an inclined surface. A rotating platform or starwheel is used to move a receptacle into contact with a bail supporting cap member located on the inclined surface. The rotary starwheel, having chamfered pockets to apply both lateral and downward force to the receptacle, moves both the receptacle and cap causing the cap to move up the inclined surface and become seated on the receptacle.